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The Jazz played well for three quarters of their Game 2 loss to the Golden State Warriors, outscoring their opponent 89-82 over that span.

That would have been great for the Jazz had they not fallen behind by 18 points in the first quarter.

Slow starts have befuddled Utah through its entire postseason run. The Jazz were good enough, resilient enough and explosive enough to overcome them against the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round. The Warriors, however, are much better than the Clippers. And the Jazz are quickly realizing they can't beat Golden State without 48 minutes of top-notch basketball.

"It's definitely draining," Jazz forward Gordon Hayward said. "I think it all stems from the way we came out of the gates. You're digging a big hole for yourself. We played well after that, but it's hard. It's hard to battle all the way back and then continue."

On Thursday, the Jazz pulled as close as six points to the Warriors and had a potential 3-pointer in the air that would have cut the deficit to three points. But the Jazz ran out of gas down the stretch, and a lot of that is because they had to expend so much energy just to get back into the game.

"You see a lot of teams where you fight all the way back and you know you're close," Hayward said. "But you come up a little short, especially on the road."

The obvious remedy is starting a game better. The Jazz know this, but they also knew this against the Clippers and that didn't make much of a difference.

The Jazz are hoping a change of venue will help. The series shifts to Vivint Smart Home Arena for Game 3 Saturday night, and both teams are expecting a raucous atmosphere. But the Jazz have to execute better, make their open shots and defend the Warriors better from the start. Or like center Rudy Gobert said, the Jazz need to "play angry."

"I do think we have to start the game better," Utah coach Quin Snyder said. "Hopefully we can do that at home. But we also want to try and be ahead at the end. If you don't start well, you're climbing an uphill battle. I think that means being more aggressive on offense. If you're not, they really capitalize going the other way."

Hill's status unchanged

The status for Utah point guard George Hill is still uncertain for Game 3, the Jazz say.

Hill missed Thursday's Game 2 with a sore toe, and Shelvin Mack started in his place. It was the first postseason game Hill has missed. The Jazz didn't practice on Friday, but they did watch film. The plan is for Hill to rest the toe, and the team will see how he feels closer to game time Saturday.

Coincidentally, Thursday was Hill's 31st birthday.

"We watched film today. We met. A couple guys did some work on the court, some shooting, some free throws things like that," Snyder said. "Most of the guys did not, especially the guys that have been playing heavy minutes. We'll know more tomorrow. George obviously didn't do anything today. Rest is what he needs. We'll see how he feels in the morning. There's no reason to change anything with respect to our expectation about whether he'll be ready to play."

Ingles, Hood coming up short

The Jazz need more from Joe Ingles and Rodney Hood. The two are a combined 13 of 35 from the field in the series, placing a lot of offensive stress on Hayward. Both have taken turns defending Klay Thompson, who moves without the ball as well as anyone in the league. That defensive assignment could have an impact on their offense. But the Jazz can't beat the Warriors unless the duo's numbers improve.

tjones@sltrib.com Twitter: @tribjazz